Side Effects

“He loved her, of course, but better than that, he chose her, day after day.

Choice: that was the thing.”

Sherman Alexie

„Oppa, wae?! I ate breakfast, I got an injection, I even promised to hold a nap in the afternoon. Why are you being like that?” Seungyeon raised her voice. Tears of frustration were welling in her light brown puppy eyes as she looked at her husband in disappointment.

Jonghyun felt torn. He didn’t want to spoil the mood, especially not on his very own birthday. But in his opinion Seungyeon still seemed too fragile to attend the concert tonight. She had not been able to hold in her breakfast again. Furthermore her small face was still paper-white from the nausea and even though she tried to hide it, he could tell that she felt a little lightheaded too by the way she was discreetly holding onto the sideboard in their bedroom just now.

Even though he should have been a happy birthday boy today he was much more of a worried husband and soon to father. Watching Seungyeon suffer from the pregnancy side effects made his heart clench in pain. He felt so awfully useless despite being right next to her now and he didn’t know what to do about it.

“Yeobo, there is a difference between trying to eat something and digesting it. Why are you being so unreasonable? We have to think of uri aegi as well…” Jonghyun retorted as calm as possible. His patience was running thin by the mere memory of Seungyeon cowering next to the toilet in their bathroom.

The stress of a long world tour and his wife’s critical course of pregnancy really started to take a tool on his energy. He was massaging his temples. Couldn’t Seungyeon see how dangerous it was for her to attend an event like that? The mere thought of her being there and of what could possibly happen to her made him so worried that he feared he wouldn’t be able to complete a single song correctly while being on stage. Why couldn’t she just stay at home where she was save from accidents?

“Are you saying I am already an unreasonable mother before our child is even born?” Seungyeon immediately returned, being visibly shocked by his words.

Even though he could be quite dense sometimes he instantly knew how upset he must have made her by his thoughtless remark.

“Aniya, that’s not what I meant-” Jonghyun quickly answered but Seungyeon didn’t even give him time to finish his sentence.

“I am the unreasonable one? Just because I wanted to visit at least one of my husband’s concerts after waiting for him for months to come back home to me? I cannot go and just sit there for two hours instead of sitting at home, simply because I am carrying the child of the man who will leave me again next week to shoot a drama with some hot idol actress? By the way, when were you going to tell me about that steamy kissing scene in your script? Don’t even get me started on that!” Seungyeon furiously expressed.

“Yeobo, please calm down. This is not what I intended to point out.” Jonghyun tried his best to defend himself but by one look at his wife he soon realised that there was no arguing with a pregnant lady – especially not about something like this.

He should have listened to Shinhye’s piece of advice before opening Pandorra’s box. Didn’t she clearly tell him beforehand that he should not debate about this damn concert with Seungyeon? His sister in law obviously saw the potential disaster coming. Why in the world hadn’t he just listened to her? He was definitely regretting it now.

“Do you really believe our child feels better just as long as you park me here out of sight of everyone else, your’s included?” Seungyeon’s quivery voice intruded his inner monologue, making him feel even more miserable. The last thing he wanted to do was to make her upset in her current condition, yet he had successfully managed to bring her to tears.

And whilst the world famous but yet somehow clueless idol guitarist was still contemplating how to console his hormone-controlled wife now, she quickly pushed past him, locking herself away from him in the adjacent bathroom.

“Great. Just great!” Jonghyun mumbled, mentally kicking himself for not seeing her reaction coming although this kind of scene appeared in almost every freaking family drama.

“Seungyeonie, please, you misunderstood!” Seriously feeling doomed now Jonghyun helplessly tried to explain himself again while softly knocking onto the wooden door, hoping he could melt his wife’s heart, possibly before he missed the band’s final sound check. He already knew he was going to run late, but Seungyeon’s wellbeing had to come first today. He couldn’t let them go on like this, not after all that she had been through those past few months.

“Yeobo, I’m very sorry I upset you with my careless phrasing. I really do not want to park you here. I’m just extremely worried that all the fan attention could become too much… What if they go overboard or something once they see you? What if you suddenly feel unwell again during the concert? I’m just scared that something could happen to you and the child. Please don’t take what I said the wrong way, neh?” He gave his best to convince her of his innocent heart.

Why on earth did she have to read through his script? She must have really been bored, being stuck at home those past few weeks. He surely had the worst luck ever when it came to things like that.

“Oppa, what do you expect from me? Am I not to leave the house until I give birth? I don’t have a virus. I am simply pregnant.” She let him know stubbornly through the bathroom door.

“I know you don’t have a virus, Seungyeonie. But you’re also not exactly in your healthiest condition right now. You cannot possibly be angry with me for caring about you. You’re my wife after all. Whatever I do you must at least know that I only want the best for you.” He explained himself at last.

Seungyeon fell into silence again. Jonghyun hated it the most when she didn’t express herself, especially